Anesthesiology expert, medical physicist, interventional radiology fellow join UMMC faculty

Laura Francesca Cavallone, M.D.

Dr. Laura Francesca Cavallone, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of anesthesiology and vice chair for research of the Department of Anesthesiology.

After earning her M.D. summa cum laude at the University of Milan School of Medicine, Italy, in 1993, Cavallone had residency training in anesthesia and intensive care at the Teaching Hospitals of the University of Milan from 1993-97 and later obtained board certification from the American Board of Anesthesiology. She served as a full-time consultant anesthesiologist at the Ospedale G. Salvini in Garbagnate Milanese, Milan, from 1997-2003 and at the Teaching Hospital Luigi Sacco, Milan, from 2003-04 before joining the Washington University in Saint Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital faculty. She was a visiting professor of anesthesiology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital from 2004-08, an assistant professor of anesthesiology from 2008-16 and an associate professor of anesthesiology from 2016-19.

Cavallone is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the International Anaesthesia Research Society and the Academy of Anesthesiology, for whom she served as scientific program chair from 2018-19. She has been a reviewer for several professional publications, including Minerva Anestesiologica, the Journal of the Italian Society of Anesthesiology, Analgesia and Intensive Care. The author or coauthor of 17 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 12 book chapters, she has given 12 invited professorships or lectureships nationally and presented her work at more than 30 national and international meetings.

Cavallone specializes in anesthesia for head and neck surgery and neurosurgery and is chair of the Education Board of the Society for Head and Neck Anesthesia. Her research interests are in translational and clinical research and include central nervous system plasticity in response to pain and quality and safety in difficult airway management.

Ajinkya Desai, M.D.

Dr. Ajinkya Desai, recently a vascular and interventional radiology fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of radiology.

After receiving his M.B.B.S. from Seth G. S. Medical College, Mumbai, India, in 2011, Desai completed a general surgery internship at New York-Presbyterian Queens, Flushing, New York, in 2014, a diagnostic radiology residency at Rochester General Hospital, New York, in 2018, and the fellowship at UT Southwestern, Dallas, in 2019.

An active member of the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Radiological Society of North America, Desai is the author or coauthor of eight articles in peer-reviewed professional journals and nine research posters. He has given seven formal presentations at grand rounds, national and international scientific meetings, and has received the “Society of Interventional Radiology In-training Travel Scholarship” in 2015 and two consecutive “RSNA Resident Research Awards” in 2017 and 2018.

Paul Njom Mobit, Ph.D.

Dr. Paul Njom Mobit, an internationally known medical physicist and radiation oncology professional, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of radiation-oncology.

After earning his joint honours degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Keele, Staffordshire, United Kingdom, in 1992, Mobit received his M.Sc. in applied radiation physics from the University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, U.K. in 1993 and his Ph.D. in radiotherapy physics from the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital, University of London, U.K., in 1996.

A medical physicist in radiation oncology at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and an assistant professor of oncology and medical physicist at the University of Calgary from 1999-2003, Mobit joined the faculty at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, as an associate professor of radiation oncology and senior medical physicist. In 2005, he became chief medical physicist at the Great Lakes Cancer Institute at McLaren Regional Medical Center, Flint, Michigan. He has served as an independent medical physicist consultant in radiation oncology since 2008.

Before joining UMMC, Mobit was most recently the CEO of Cameroon Oncology Center. He has consulted for many radiation oncology projects internationally and nationally for the last several years.